Tag Archives: Chuck

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On The Couch #50: Shades of Ray

Never give up. That’s what I took away from Rudy and what was going through my mind when I decided I needed to do something drastic to catch up if I wanted any hope of hitting 52/52 at the end of 2010. Thus on Tuesday, 12/21/10, Super Tuesday was born, a day where I would watch movie after movie.

To start Super Tuesday, I plopped down on the couch at 8:00 AM and watched Shades of Ray on Netflix Instant Streaming. Shades of Ray was originally recommended to me back in the earliest days of Tuesday Night Movies by my uncle and again by a friend. I said I’d get right on it. Apparently by “right on it” I meant that I would wait until the second to last week of the year to watch it.

I should have watched it sooner. Shades of Ray is a great romantic comedy, possibly the best romantic comedy I’ve seen this year. If you like the TV show Chuck, you’ll probably like Shades of Ray as well. Zachary Levi basically plays a slightly smoother version of Chuck. Ray is Chuck minus the video game geekery and with a slightly darker skin tone. Ray even has a Morgan Grimes-esque sidekick in the form of his roommate and best friend Sal. I guess the casting of Joshua Gomez as Sal would have made things too eerily similar for Chuck fans.

Also like Chuck, Ray has both a blonde and a brunette vying for his affection.

In case this blog has a Secret Santa, I really, really want the pink shirt that both Ray and Sal buy from Lloyd from Entourage.

Brian George is batting 1.000 with me. First in his most famous role, as Babu Bhatt in one of the most memorable Seinfeld episodes ever, then as Raj’s father on my current favorite TV show The Big Bang Theory and now in Shades of Ray. Researching this post, I was surprised to find out he was born in Israel to Jewish parents and immigrated to India as a child. The second thing I was surprised to discover was just how many things he’s been in over the years. He’s the textbook example of a working actor, with 192 screen credits currently on IMDB.

“You’re a very bad man, Jerry Seinfeld! A very, very bad man!”
Classic.

If you’re looking for a funny romantic comedy you haven’t seen yet to watch one night, you’d have a hard time doing better than Shades of Ray. This movie proved to be a great start to Super Tuesday. Time to hit the theaters!

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At The Theater #23: Mademoiselle Chambon

The star of Mademoiselle Chambon, Vincent Lindon, looks kind of like a French Bruce Springsteen, so it makes sense that the movie plays like a Springsteen song. Working class protagonist? Check. Unhappiness with one’s situation in life? Check. Infidelity? Check. I woudn’t have been surprised if a French cover of The River album played throughout the whole movie.

Le Springsteen

Actually, the more I think about it, the more Vincent Lindon looks like a French version of Jeff from Chuck.

Le Jeff.
French Springsteen’s twin?

If you like grammar-centric humor, the first five minutes of Mademoiselle Chambon will delight you. But if you like incredibly slow movies, the other hour and 36 minutes will be your favorite. Thank God for the subtitles. If it wasn’t for having to read them, I probably would have fallen asleep during the film. There’s a lot of scenes of people doing nothing but staring intently at each other. It’s like they removed the vampires from Twilight and replaced them with middle-aged French people.

We originally wanted to see Dogtooth at Brooklyn Heights Cinemas, but Mademoiselle Chambon replaced it on Friday. When the girl working the box office told me Dogtooth came and went, I said “That’s too bad. I didn’t see it.” Her response was “No one did.” Sorry, Dogtooth.

Brooklyn Heights Cinemas still has great popcorn. Their popcorn might be my favorite out of all the theaters we’ve visited so far this year. Not only is it tasty, but it makes sitting through a slow French movie much more bearable.

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On The Couch #25: Spies Like Us

How have I never seen Spies Like Us? I don’t know. I love comedies. I like John Landis. I like Chevy Chase. I like Dan Akroyd. I was the right age to see this in the movie theater or at home on VHS. It doesn’t make sense.

Watching Spies Like Us for the first time 25 years after it was made has its downsides. Not all of the jokes age well. Take the Bob Hope cameo. Bob Hope pops in randomly, hits a golf ball, makes a quip and exits just as quickly. John Landis was obviously very excited about this; Bob Hope is the only person in the credits who has an exclamation point after his name. Unfortunately, living in a world where Bob Hope isn’t hitting around golf balls anymore caused this bit to fall flat for me.

I wonder if this how people are going to feel about Neil Patrick Harris’s cameo in Harold and Kumar 25 years from now. This also assumes people are still watching Harold and Kumar 25 years from now.

Two cameos that really excited me were the B.B. King and Michael Apted ones, probably because they’re still alive. I didn’t even catch them the first time around. I saw their names in the credits and immediately hunted down their scene. It was great seeing the director of The Up Series documentaries in an acting role, even if it’s just for one line as a creepy CIA guy.

I love these movies. You might too.

It’s amazing how often Spies Like Us is referenced now, 25 years later. It showed up in an episode of Chuck recently, which reminded me I never saw the movie. And the “Doctor.” “Doctor.” bit was used in in the sideways reality of Lost this season. I’ve always found that bit funny; I’ve even quoted that bit, but had no idea where it came from. I always assumed it was something from Monty Python or M*A*S*H* (another classic I’ve never seen…Hmm, I should get around to queueing that up).

“Doctor.”  “Doctor.”

I don’t want this review to sound like I didn’t like the movie. I did, especially the test scene early on and the appendectomy surgery in the desert. The jokes are very 1985, but what else should I have expected from a cold war spy comedy?

If you haven’t seen Spies Like Us, congratulations! You’re officially the last person now that I’ve seen it.